South Shore Wine & Spirit

Will PROMPTLY dismiss you at the register if you have a duplicate ID. So if you misplaced your wallet ever or were issued a motorcycle endorsement on your license — you will get the boot. Unfair way of treating customers.

Don’t listen to clueless loser «current employees» of this filthy establishment with nasty owners and ridiculous policies. They have lost all the friendly, knowledgeable employees and with them they lost all of us that WERE good and regular customers. This business killed itself!

Dont listen to reviews from people who couldnt get served because of there fake duplicate id or spiteful former employees with fake profiles. This is a good store. It is undergoing a transition with new products comming in weekly. Highly improved craft beer section and a vastly growing wine and liqour selection. The new staff is also very knowledgeable and friendly.

I just moved into my new place across the street from here a few weeks ago and my boyfriend and I wanted to celebrate our move in with a bottle of wine. I went across the street to grab a bottle for us. Mind you, there is another liquor store less than a mile down the road but we heard the prices were good at this one so we went there. When we walked in, there were two girls working who didn’t even look up from their phones at the counter to acknowledge us. When I went to check out, the cashier asked for my ID. She then told me she could not accept my license as it was a duplicate. So I said, «well I don’t have any other form of ID and this is a duplicate license issued by the DMV». My boyfriend couldn’t even pay for the wine because he also has a duplicate. The cashier (who was extremely rude) rolled her eyes and told me that we could «call her manager if we had a problem» So basically, we cannot ever shop at this liquor store at all simply because we had our wallets stolen last year and had to get issued a duplicate of our driver’s licenses. I don’t really understand why that makes us ineligible to shop here? This place would have gotten a decent amount of business at least twice a week from us and our roommates but now we will shop elsewhere from now on and tell our friends to do the same. Don’t waste your time with this place.

Don’t waste your time. They won’t remember you. Their attatude is you are a liability not an asset. I was a regular customer and would go there once a week or so and I stopped by a few minutes before 8pm and they waved me away. Apparently they close at 7:55pm. I went back the next day to voice my displeasure and they could care less. I’ll go elsewhere.

Noticed a number of the complaints have to do with being «carded» — Certainly not an issue for me :-). I live in NYC and have a place on the shore in East Haven. We have found that they stock a wide variety of wine and liquor and are very accommodating (will order items not in stock). Also find their prices very competitive.

This is a review on the Beer selection only.
This place could be so much better. No one in this store is knowledgeable on beer and it shows. If you’re looking for a Vintage 2011 IPA they got you covered. In fact I’ve even purchased 2009 Westmalle Dubble and Tripel just for the heck of it. They charged $ 30 for Bourbon County which to me is $ 5 to high.
Mostly ladies run the shop and they can be friendly if a bit rough and tumble. The No-​Duplicate-​ID thing doesn’t bother me, but it isn’t exactly welcoming either, I’m sure they’ve just been burned in the past.
In short I go here just to see if they have Gandhi Bot or whatever Barrel Aged beer is sold out at Coastal. Hey at least they put it on the shelf here.
UPDATE
They now have a sign at the front register that says to not sell to anyone «who smells like weed» nevermind the constant stream of drug addicts in there at all hours of the day buying lotto tickets and nips. Downgrading to one star.
UPDATE #2
The weed sign is gone! Hooray, progress… or not
Unfortunately, yup. They still suck. Yup, I still torture myself going there. New horror show each time.
Clerk: That’ll be $ 14.95.
Me: It says $ 12.00 on the shelf.
Clerk: hmm, it’s in our system as $ 14.95, do you want me to have someone check?
Me: No that’s ok…[pays upcharge]
Week goes by, i go back, go to the same shelf, still incorrectly labeled, still rings up $ 2 more than it should, still says the name of the beer on the incorrect pricing. Correct beer name, incorrect price. It begs the question, with the sad state of their beer aisle, what do employees do here all day, that they cant be bothered to throw away expired product, or update their pricing?

This place is horrendous and I could careless about their selection. The reality of the world that we live in, is we have choices.
They don’t accept duplicate IDs?! The only way they will (as this absolutely nasty woman told me) was if I had another form of ID on me. I just don’t carry around my social security card or birth certificate to buy a bottle of wine for dinner. I wouldn’t have such a gripe with this, if it was delivered in a matter of fact manner, but a condescending one is unacceptable.
They also had an issue that the person I was with attempted to buy the alcohol (they had the original copy of their ID) and I handed them cash. They wouldn’t sell it to her? What? So, two people, clearly of legal drinking age. It was just ridiculous. I’m all for curbing underage drinking, but two women with IDS, buying two bottles of wine and a 6 pack shouldn’t have to go through leaps and bounds to do so.
Head a mile or so towards the center where you will experience far better interactions and the same selections.

They deny anyone with a duplicate license. I can understand that this is a measure to prevent underage drinking, but people lose their ID’s. The cashiers are extremely rude and clearly terrified they’re going to be fined/​fired and its reflected in their attitude. If your employees can’t spot a fake ID versus a real one, you should train them or replace them if they fail to learn. Only liquor store in the area that’s denied me service. I’ll never go back.

If I could give this place no stars I would, THE HELP. Which is what thay are have to be the rudest women to ring a cash register I have ever come across, they talk behind peoples backs and make faces. You work at a package store and make minimum wage thats your own fault, dont hate because your a loser!

Within the last year, South Shore has really picked up their pace on the whole Craft Beer scene, which is primarily what we go in for. They have a section just inside the door of beers to match the season/​new beers they just got in as well as same decently priced wines.
If we go in for wine, it’s just a grab and go kind of thing. We aren’t wine connoisseurs so don’t pay much attention to the ratings and what not. We grab a middle of the road priced wine and head out. We sometimes frequent the liquor area, but that’s not a common beverage in our household so it’s not often. I have done some rebates on vodkas and tequilas and their selection is just fine for our needs.
Their beer selection has more than doubled in size over the last few months and are now offering many more craft beers and unique beers that most places are not. Amity used to be the «go to» for the more uncommon beers and now this place has them right in our backyard. Sometimes the staff can be helpful looking for a certain beer, but usually they are not. The one guy that used to do the ordering for the beer I don’t think works there anymore and he was a huge help.
We use the bottle return area which is what you would expect for a bottle return… the room is kind of grimy and gross and your feet stick to the floor… but I usually make my husband do this so I don’t have to — the money’s going to go to beer that he wants anyway so make him work for it.
There are a few different (usually) females working the register and I can say that the two younger ones are the most unfriendly ones around. We go in there often and not even a «hi, how have you been doing».they’re set on auto and that’s all they know… they even card us (almost 29 years old) every time. You clearly recognize us. and even if you HAVE to card everyone, at least acknowledge that we’re not complete strangers. Even if we act OVERLY friendly, not even a smile is cracked. That’s rude and annoying.
To be perfectly honest, the selection at Coastal in Branford is a little better than South Shore, but being as this is literally a minute from our house it’s perfectly stocked for our needs.